The present invention relates to wheel detectors and more particularly to a detector adapted to determine the presence of a wheel along a section of track as well as the direction of travel of the wheel.
Wheel detectors are used by the railroad industry for a wide variety of applications. They are used to trigger switch signals, automatic car identification equipment, switches, gates and the like. Such detectors utilize sensors, usually track mounted, which may be in the form of metal detectors, treadles, optical devices, etc. which detect the presence of a wheel and generate a signal in response thereto. Heretofore, such wheel detectors have been insensitive to the direction of motion of the passing wheel and the same signal would be generated by a wheel traveling in one direction or an opposite direction.
In view of this, it is the principal object of the present invention to provide a directional wheel detector which will detect railroad car wheels and also indicate their direction.